1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to water-dissipatable polyesters and polyesteramides containing ether groups and sulfonate groups in the form of a metal salt. Such polymers are useful as textile sizing materials, adhesives, coating materials, films, packaging materials and other products which can be dissolved, dispersed or otherwise dissipated in cold water, hot water, or aqueous solutions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,779,993; 3,734,874 and 3,546,008, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, respectively relate to (1) compositions comprising, (2) aqueous dissipations of, and (3) fibrous articles sized with a polymer described as a linear, water-dissipatable, meltable polyester or polyesteramide, having an inherent viscosity of at least 0.1 and preferably (in some cases) at least 0.3, prepared from a glycol component, a dicarboxylic acid component, and a difunctional monomer component. The components used in the polymer condensation products are all essentially difunctional.
These patents disclose a linear, water-dissipatable polymer having carbonyloxy interconnecting groups in the linear molecular structure wherein up to 80% thereof may be carbonylamido linking groups, the polymers consisting essentially of the following components:
(a) At least one difunctional dicarboxylic acid; PA1 (b) At least one difunctional glycol containing two --CR.sub.2 --OH groups of which at least 15 mole percent is a poly(ethylene glycol) having the structural formula: EQU H--OCH.sub.2 --CH.sub.2).sub.n OH PA1 n being an integer in the range between about 2 and about 20; PA1 (c) An amount sufficient to provide said water-dissipatable characteristic of said polymer of at least one difunctional sulfo-monomer containing at least one metal sulfonate group attached to an aromatic nucleus wherein the functional groups are hydroxy, carboxyl or amino; and PA1 (d) From none to an amount of a difunctional hydroxycarboxylic acid having one --CR.sub.2 --OH group, an aminocarboxylic acid having one --NRH group, an aminoalcohol having one --CR.sub.2 --OH group and one --NRH group, a diamine having two --NRH groups, or a mixture thereof, wherein each R is an H atom or a 1-4 carbon alkyl group, said components (a), (b), (c) and (d) being organic compounds, each of which contains a hydrocarbon moiety which has from none up to six nonfunctional groups. PA1 (a) at least one difunctional dicarboxylic acid; PA1 (b) from about 4 to about 25 mole percent, based on a total of all acid, hydroxyl and amino equivalents being equal to 200 mole percent, of at least one difunctional sulfomonomer containing at least one metal sulfonate group attached to an aromatic nucleus wherein the functional groups are hydroxy, carboxyl or amino; and PA1 (c) at least one difunctional reactant selected from a glycol or a mixture of a glycol and diamine having two --NRH groups, the glycol containing two --CH.sub.2 --OH groups of which from about 0.1 to less than 15 mole percent based on the total mole percent of hydroxy or hydroxy and amino equivalents, is a poly(ethylene glycol) having the structural formula: EQU H--OCH.sub.2 -CH.sub.2).sub.n OH PA1 n being an integer of between 2 and about 500, with the proviso that the mole percent of said poly(ethylene glycol) within said range is inversely proportional to the quantity of n within said range. Solubility is related to the weight percent of poly(ethylene glycol) and mole percent of sulfomonomer. Therefore, if the content of either is relatively low, the other should be relatively high to maintain adequate solubility.
These patents contain no teaching or suggestion of the difuntional glycol component containing less than 15 mole percent of the poly(ethylene glycol), or n being an integer greater than about 20.